Wolves - Sevilla EUROPA LEAGUE QUARTER FINAL Math thread

[BillyDee]

It's absolutely the case that a small squad is fine, but it needs to be 17/18 that are actually likely to play, not just 13/14.

 

[Pablowolf]

Plenty of mongs on Twitter at the moment. A few calling for Nuno to be binned off!!!!

 

[Gonby's Games Gone By]

Think the idea of the midfield being exposed by the 343 is something of a myth personally. In my opinion it's the formation that has the greater potential for defensive solidity as you can drop back to pretty much 541 when you're really up against it, tuck the wide players in a bit to narrow that 4 across midfield if there's greater threat in the middle than from opposition fullbacks, think the 352 is less versatile because as soon as opposition fullbacks start pushing on it drags a midfielder out wide and then you lose your numerical advantage in there anyway. The latter works well against someone like Man City because it forces them to go wide and 3 centre backs v someone like Aguero is generally pretty favourable for defending crosses opposed to allowed more space centrally for the likes of De Bruyne or Silva.

I think perhaps it's not so much a question of the numbers but that we have Moutinho plus Neves as our central midfield.

 

[Jinky]

Plenty of mongs on Twitter at the moment. A few calling for Nuno to be binned off!!!!

Haven’t seen anyone say this (obviously you follow the wrong people!) but I have seen people suggesting Raul can go because he hasn’t been at the races since the Man Utd/Juve interest - and others happy to cash in on Diogo.

We need to add players to the squad, not lose them! Tricky window coming up. We have a ceiling with no European football on offer - but we also need to watch the spending. Over to you, Jeff.

 

[Jabbawolf]

Plenty of mongs on Twitter at the moment. A few calling for Nuno to be binned off!!!!

Yes, there are some seriously deluded eager beavers around.

 

[Langers]

I'm not going to quote anyone, but some people need to take a long hard look at themselves. Nobody on this thread has appeared in the last 2/3years, yet the entitlement rather than disappointment fucking stinks. Look where we have come from and what most of us have watched for so many years

The better team won, Raul didn't score the penalty and switched off for he goal, but he's looked shagged for weeks. Have a bit of understanding rather than acting like Man Utd fans.

There are questions for next season about the way we approach games, but that's for another thread.

All of this.

 

[Langers]

Plenty of mongs on Twitter at the moment. A few calling for Nuno to be binned off!!!!

Whilst I agree with the sentiment of your post, please watch the use of offensive terms, mate. Cheers xx

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Agree with all that, Sevilla pressing was very good

I don't think they pressed particularly well or aggressively, Wolves just lacked composure on the ball, even at times when players had time and space they made poor decisions which lead to the ball being lost cheaply.

A very strong defensive performance, but as the game wore on we offered less and less of a threat and meant Sevilla could afford to play higher, create more overloads and have more dangerous possession. They still really didn’t create that much throughout the game but the pressure was constant. Even the goal, though we didn’t react quickly enough initially is a great cross and a great header.

It’s been a fantastic season, obviously the best in mine (and I’m sure many others) life time. Amazing chance to keep progressing, with Nuno in charge I really think we will

Nuno will need to adapt too in order to continue progressing I feel.

Think there were complaints from previous jobs that he set teams up too conservatively? Obviously wasn't so much of an issue at Wolves to begin with compared to the clubs he'd previously managed but if you're looking to consistently get around the European places then perceptions will changes, teams will setup more defensively against you and you'll have to be more proactive in how you play as a result to combat that. There have been games where this has been played out with Wolves tentatively jabbing at opposition who have little interest in exposing themselves but also there have been a few games where the shackles appear to have been loosened a little, Traore appearing as wingback, Dendoncker at centre half etc. so it would appear it's something he has half a mind on at least. Think you could make a big difference purely in the mentality of the team without really changing personnel, push the back 3 up higher and trust them to take a few more risks with their passing, have the midfielders playing between the lines more rather than always looking to come deep and take easy passes from the defence but that's obviously going to compromise the defensive solidity that this team is built on by leaving so much space in behind.

Then you've got the squad issue too, obviously a very small squad at the moment but made even smaller in reality by the relatively small number of players within it who are seemingly trusted to make any substantial number of appearances. Next season it perhaps won't be such an issue with the lack of European football and more opportunity to give players a few days rest between games if required but again if you're aiming for regular European football then it's a problem you'll face more often than not. A few more bodies in the right positions, certainly need a centre foward and central midfielder who can be trusted to interchange with the current first team incumbents, could make a world of difference and perhaps provide the ability to push on more often in games knowing that there is a viable replacement if a player burns themselves out in a game. By the sounds of it Nuno may have already acknowledged this shortcoming in tonight's post game interview, a couple of Neto like arrivals for the right positions could be ideal this summer, took him a little while to find his feet but now he's sorted himself out he's become a genuine option for a first team spot and as seen tonight can jump ahead of Jota when his form isn't where it needs to be.

 

[YoungWolf]

https://twitter.com/jacquioatley/status/1293294914516717575?s=21

Wow

 

[SSB]

Plenty of mongs on Twitter at the moment. A few calling for Nuno to be binned off!!!!

I had a period where I blocked all idiots on Facebook groups and Twitter. Since then 90% of the posts I see are reasonable.

 

[Parkins left foot]

Coming off now - we have gone out to a good team who are more experienced in europeon comps

No disgrace - could have been better but wasn't

Still proud of what Nuno & the team have done, but forums & more likely Twitter will get silly now.

We do need more & Nuno acknowledged that - it is important that we retain him & the majority of this squad as a base - the project is still moving forward, but the further up we go the harder the next step is.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Ah. Gutted. We are a good side and we propped up against a really good side. We will be back and we will be better.

 

[jd1981]

Much needed R & R for this side and management, can’t be underestimated how mentally draining this would have been on our squad.
If that penalty goes in I think we’d have still gone out tonight probably in extra time. Commitment and effort can never be questioned with this side only criticism I have is how we retained possession.

 

[AndyWolves]

Last season we got knocked out by Watford, this season it's Sevilla - that's progress

 

[The Bear]

I'm not going to quote anyone, but some people need to take a long hard look at themselves. Nobody on this thread has appeared in the last 2/3years, yet the entitlement rather than disappointment fucking stinks. Look where we have come from and what most of us have watched for so many years

Always been a nonsense argument I'm afraid.

Where we were X amount of years ago is irrelevant. People are watching and commenting based on the level we are currently at and the resources this club has now. We are in a position no-one thought we'd get to so quickly but that doesn't mean we're just going to settle and assume this is as good as it's ever going to get.

We know how ambitious Fosun are, I'm sure they're not sitting there tonight saying "Oh well we were 15th in the Championship when we took over, how can we do any better than we already have?".

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Argggggggh. Gutted, obviously. Because it's so late on, because we generally defended so well, because we missed a golden opportunity (and I think we'd have won if we'd gone 1-0 up), because the refs cocked it up AGAIN despite having the technology on hand.

We just didn't end up offering enough going the other way. It's fine giving away that amount of the ball if we're providing a threat when we do win it, but we didn't at all in the second half sadly. We badly needed something different in midfield after an hour or so, we just don't have it at the moment. Hopefully we do have other options in a month or two.

Immensely proud of the squad and the management though, what a season overall. I'm just sad it's over.

Invest in the right areas and we can do even better next year. This is the start, not the end.

 

[Alan]

Always been a nonsense argument I'm afraid.

Where we were X amount of years ago is irrelevant. People are watching and commenting based on the level we are currently at and the resources this club has now. We are in a position no-one thought we'd get to so quickly but that doesn't mean we're just going to settle and assume this is as good as it's ever going to get.

We know how ambitious Fosun are, I'm sure they're not sitting there tonight saying "Oh well we were 15th in the Championship when we took over, how can we do any better than we already have?".

Equally, by Fosun's own plan we are two years ahead of schedule. So it's all a bit gravy at this point.

 

[The Bear]

Indeed. I'm delighted with the last two seasons no matter how we played on the pitch. Doesn't mean there can't be criticisms or areas to improve.

 

[jd1981]

I'm not going to quote anyone, but some people need to take a long hard look at themselves. Nobody on this thread has appeared in the last 2/3years, yet the entitlement rather than disappointment fucking stinks. Look where we have come from and what most of us have watched for so many years

The better team won, Raul didn't score the penalty and switched off for he goal, but he's looked shagged for weeks. Have a bit of understanding rather than acting like Man Utd fans.

There are questions for next season about the way we approach games, but that's for another thread.

Don’t think there’s any problems with people highlighting what could have been done better on a game by game basis. If people were on here slating the overall position of the said and management fair enough but highlighting what went wrong tonight isn’t them bemoaning our position in comparison to 3 years ago.

 

[prawnking]

Always been a nonsense argument I'm afraid.

Where we were X amount of years ago is irrelevant. People are watching and commenting based on the level we are currently at and the resources this club has now. We are in a position no-one thought we'd get to so quickly but that doesn't mean we're just going to settle and assume this is as good as it's ever going to get.

We know how ambitious Fosun are, I'm sure they're not sitting there tonight saying "Oh well we were 15th in the Championship when we took over, how can we do any better than we already have?".

Also, apart from maybe one fella's comments, criticisms on here are pretty restrained and constructive, and also acknowledge that even before a ball was kicked it's been a great season.

There are some horrifically entitled and ridiculous fans on Twitter and even MM but I feel sometimes the desire to kick against that on here leads to some OTT reactions.

It's possible to be proud but also point out that not having any kind of threat for most of the game is not really going to get you anywhere, and to be critical of that fact